SNet, a novel network for manycore architectures

Embedded platforms are expected to integrate thousands of cores in the near future, and one of the major difficulties remains in scaling the interconnection network. We propose a novel Scalable NETwork concept, named SNet, that broadens the NoCs space to include a combined software/hardware dynamic routing methodology. It exploits a distributed, adaptive, non-supervised routing strategy, based on the ACO algorithm (Ant Colony Optimization), to define routing paths among communicating tasks. Data transmission is achieved by a small footprint hardware module, named DMC (Direct Management of Communications). SNet has the advantage of being highly flexible, and enables to define a wide range of routing topologies to match application requirements. In this paper, we apply the SNet paradigm to a manycore architecture and we evaluate its performances by running a high number of test cases.